IRU’s EU goods transport members have approved the organisation’s position on the European Commission’s proposal to amend the EU Combined Transport Directive.
IRU calls for a fundamental improvement of the proposal due to concerns among Europe’s road goods transport companies active in intermodal and combined transport that the added complexity in the new proposal will discourage – rather than encourage – the use of intermodal and combined transport solutions.
Legislators should consider an easier access to incentives by replacing the proposed external cost approach with a simplified distance-based approach. They should also provide more incentives.
IRU Director of EU Advocacy Raluca Marian said, “We cannot lose sight of the expected increases in demand for freight transport by 2050. The EU will need all transport modes, individually and in combination, to deal with the increase as well as the existing demand.”
“We cannot afford to consider forced modal shift. We must rather increase capacity and make existing capacity more efficient by encouraging road goods transport operators and shippers to use intermodal and combined transport operations to a much greater extent than is currently the case.
“This can only be done by better, simpler and more transparent rules which provide greater legal certainty,” she concluded.